Nikko Day Trip

After crashing the night before, I woke up fairly early (6:00ish) to wrangle with T-Mobile again. This time, the tech I got discovered the problem - the band my phone runs on isn't supported in Japan. I was put out that none of the other techs (and myself, before leaving) hadn't figured this out already. (In my defense, I had checked - I'd just managed to plug in the wrong version of my phone.)

I slept late-ish after that, and Monica even later, so our Nikko day trip didn't begin smoothly. We bought our passes for 11:00 am, having just missed a train by five minutes. To pass time, we went back to the shopping arcade across the street and bought umbrellas and some taiyaki - I got red bean paste, Monica, sweet potato - before running back to catch our train. We had a long, peaceful ride out into the countryside. Just as we neared Nikko, the rain started, beating down on the windows of the express train. Armed with our new umbrellas, we ran out of the station to the bus stop. By the time we arrived at the Tosho-gu Mausoleum, the rain had stopped.

We found a shuin booth where Monica bought a book and I got mine stamped. Then we went in search of bathrooms, which ended up being a journey around a huge, factory-like structure. (I think a building is under restoration inside.) On the way back, we got stopped by a group of school kids, about eight or nine years old. They asked us questions in English, then dug through their pencil cases so we could sign their workbooks.

Finally, we headed into the shrine for Tokugawa Ieyasu, the shogun who moved Japan's capital to Tokyo and whose family ruled Japan for the next 260 years. We passed a sign that showed us we were at the same altitude as the Tokyo Skytree. Loads of school groups lined the path, all wearing matching hats. We passed the first gate and pagoda before entering through the Yomeimon Gate, with its Nio.

 

The buildings lining the courtyard were beautiful, decadent with decoration. We hurried ahead through the Yomeimon Gate, which is mostly white and gold and was under restoration. We walked over to the sleeping cat carving and then up some stairs... and up, and up... to where Tokugawa Ieyasu is enshrined. 

 

Next, we decided to check out the main shrine, kicking off our shoes and following a group of school kids in. A kannushi explained (in Japanese) the proper steps involved in prayer. Monica and I followed along. I was dripping sweat and ended up pulling out my tenugui after seeing one of the kids reach for hers. When in Rome. We followed the hoard to the exit, where we picked up our shoes and headed out. Looking at the time (the train schedule was working against us, with only two more trains covered by our pass that afternoon) we decided to return to the bus. 

It started raining again as we reached town. We checked out a couple of shops before buying drinks and bento boxes for the train. The ride back took close to three hours and involved two transfers, but went smoothly. We passed the Asahi golden poo building as we entered Tokyo. After exiting the Tobu Rail Station at Asakusa, we hurried down to Y-Mobile where I paid way too much to rent a portable wifi device for the remainder of our trip. 

I'm glad we went to Nikko, but you really need to leave Tokyo as early as possible to do it justice as a day trip. We ended up spending five+ hours on trains and buses for about an hour at a single shrine. It was an important reminder for the rest of the trip, that I needed to check train schedules the day before and communicate what time we'd need to leave each morning. Some people need solo travel tips - I need tips to remind me how to go back to traveling with others!